Action gating

The deterministic decision made before an agent acts.

Action gating is where governance becomes tangible. When an action is requested, the gate checks whether the state it depends on is present, consistent and compliant with policy, then returns a decision with reasons.

Try it: release a settlement payment of $48,200Change the conditions and watch the decision. The same inputs always give the same answer.

Required state is presentclaim.amount and claim.approver are recorded and confirmedNo open conflict on that stateTwo sources agree on the claim amountAmount is under the approval thresholdPolicy: payments above $10,000 need the Claims Ops LeadApprover has signed offOnly matters when the amount is over the thresholdState is freshConfirmed within the relevance window

DecisionBlockReasons

Unresolved conflict on claim.amount ($48,200 vs $41,750)

{
  "decision": "block",
  "actionType": "payment.release",
  "lineage": {
    "receiptId": "gr_7q2k9f"
  }
}

Decisions#

Verdict	Meaning
Allow	All requirements met. The action may proceed.
Warn	The action may proceed, with something to review.
Defer	Not yet: a person must approve or more facts are needed.
Block	One or more requirements are not met. The action must not proceed.

What the gate checks#

01
Key presence
Is every required key recorded and active?
02
Conflict status
Is any required key in an open conflict?
03
Policy constraints
Do values satisfy thresholds and rules?
04
Approvals
Has the named person approved where policy requires it?

Unblocking#

A blocked action always comes with specific reasons. Fix those, by adding missing state, resolving the conflict or obtaining approval, and evaluate again. See An action was blocked.

Last reviewed October 2026Suggest a change